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[Night Wing]

@ stoneaxe

Since you don't mind "wander", I'll add a little more.

Here are the specifications to both of my custom Blacktail bows:

66", 42# @ 30"
66", 37# @ 30"

As I said before, the bowyer Norm Johnson built my two Blacktail three piece takedown recurves. He builds some beautiful bows. More like works of art. His website is below.

https://www.blacktailbows.com/

Since I've got long arms, I had to go the custom route for draw length since all production made bows, the poundage is always measured at 28". My very first hunting recurve was a production made one piece Bear Super Kodiak 60", 40# @ 28" which my late dad bought for me when I was 13 years old.

When I was a teenager, I was very fortunate to meet Fred Bear in person at an archery function. He was very gracious to me since he let me ask him lots of questions and he answered every one of them, which took about 30 minutes of his time. For me, it is a very good memory that I still cherish today.

The one thing which caught my eye about Fred Bear, soaking wet I think when I met Fred Bear, he weighed around 135 lbs. Yet, his three piece hunting takedown Super Kodiak recurve was 60", 65# @ 28". He was an instinctive shooter and he did "anchor and hold".

[stoneaxe]

Beautiful bows. Extraordinary in fact. I'd love one of those longbows but a bit out of my price range....yikes. I'll be shaping a primitive....no comparison at all.

That must have been awe inspiring to meet and speak with him as a teen. Would be as an adult..... .

It's funny how we can get so ingrained. I don't remember when Bill 1st taught me to shoot. My 1st bow was a cheap fiberglass/wood 30#. I must have looked somewhat weird as a city kid carrying my bow and arrows into the neighborhood park. I shot a lot of arrows chasing imaginary villians in the woods, "Welcome to Ringers"..... (Errol Flynn was the man)

I think the reason I've always felt more comfortable and enjoyed quick shots over holding is because I couldn't hold when I was young and never had any formal training other than Pono's "the pointy end goes towards the target". Half my shots were taken while moving....I never could stand still.....

[Night Wing]

I anchor at the corner of my mouth.  I shoot with a Bateman leather tab and I use "one finger over the arrow nock and two fingers under the arrow nock". I shoot Easton aluminum 2212 solid black colored arrows cut to 31" with three, white colored 5" right wing helical parabolic feathers. Most right handed people like to shoot left wing helical feathers and even though I'm right handed, I like right wing helical feathers.

A 2212 arrow is considered a thin walled target arrow, but with my low bow poundage and with my long 31" arrows, I can get away with using a target arrow for bowhunting. My favorite broadhead is an old, 3 bladed 75 grain Muzzy broadhead.

The neat thing about a Blacktail bow for me, I do not use an arm guard. I never slap my wrist. Most people would say I've got a good arrow release, but that is not true. The way a Blacktail bow is made is why I don't slap my wrist with the arrow string upon release.

My favorite type of informal target shooting is called, "Roving". Roving is where you walk through the woods, find a stick, dirt bank or large cottonwood leaf on the ground and shoot at what you're looking at. I've never taken a shot over 20 yards.

My favorite animal to stalk is a javelina. A javelina has poor eyesight but a very keen sense of smell. Out in west Texas, I will glass until I find a few javelina and then stalk into the wind to them so they can't catch my scent. I can usually close to around 12-15 yards and then I wait for my favorite broadside lung shot. If I don't get the shot I want, I let the animal walk. The longest distance I've had to trail an arrowed game animal has been 60 yards. I've never lost an animal I've arrowed. I wait about 15 minutes and then go find the animal.

We make chili out of javelina meat and eat it just like a bowl of chili. As for feral hogs, I try to arrow ones around 75 pounds to eat. These are tasty and the meat is very tender when cooked. My wife cooked some feral hog meat and invited my neighbor over for a meal. He didn't know he was eating wild pork and he said, "This pork is tender. Seasoned wonderfully". I just grinned at him with a sly smile. As he was looking at me, he then realized I'm a hunter and the pork he was eating wasn't bought at the local grocery store.

He then said, "This is feral hog meat isn't it?" I said; "Yes, it is." I then asked him, "Do you like it?" Then he said; "I hate to admit it, but yeah, it's delicious." And he must have liked it because he had a second plateful with all the trimmings.

[PonoBill]

Probably no weirder than Fred LaTowne and I carrying our bows riding the streetcar to the vicinity of Norumbega park--an ancient abandoned amusement park that featured a lot of woods and a "lake" that was actually a kink in a tributary of the Charles River.  We hunted squirrels and pigeons, then built a campfire and ate them, all within 20 miles of downtown Boston. Imagine doing that today. Incidentally, squirrel and pigeon tastes like shit, especially inexpertly cleaned and skinned/plucked and half-cooked on a stick over a fire. City kids shouldn't read Robert Ruark. especially "The Old Man and The Boy". It gives them nutty ideas.

[stoneaxe]

Yes, squirrels and pigeons taste like shit......especially inexpertly cleaned and skinned/plucked and half-cooked on a stick over a fire. LOL....I was "cooking" a squirrel in Ringers park and a lady walking her dog called the cops on me.

I wish we had some feral hogs around here. I'd hunt those....mmmm...bacon. I don't care all that much for deer meat and there isn't much else worth hunting around here. Turkeys but there are so many you can hunt them with a 9 iron.... I always did it more for the walk in the woods in solitude than anything. Now if they would just set a season for Angus beef....

[Bean]

...LOL....I was "cooking" a squirrel in Ringers park and a lady walking her dog called the cops on me.

[stoneaxe]

OK bro...next time we come out lets go hunting....primitive....feral hogs with spears....

[PonoBill]

The locals use dogs and a knife.

[WhatsSUP]

wow...just checked back in this thread and see its still on the hunting tangent....

okay, "squirrels and pigeons taste like shit"......are you kidding me!  Squirrels at the least are AWESOME!  Brunswick stew is hard to beat!!!  And if they're floured up and fried in oil in a cast iron skillet its some mighty fine eating.  I've been on a bunch of traditional southern dove hunts which are classic.  Often times I've seen pigeons flying in with their cousins and hunters not hesitating to blink a few out of the sky as they come into millet and cut corn.  I have a recipe for "Charlie's Dove's" which is made in a cream sauce and man is it good!!!!!

I've bowhunted for ferral hogs a few times but never drew my bow....the couple of hunts I had consisted of stand hunting in a pecan orchard in southern Alabama where they came in right in before dark to start rooting.  Would have loved to have harvested one....mightly fine eating for sure!!!!!!

Nighty: the blacktail bows are beautiful....saaaa-weet!  As far as broadheads....I've tried tons and when I was hunting w/ fixed blades (over the course of my first 10-15 bowhunting I ALWAYS came back to either Thunderheads or Muzzy's (always 100gr).  However, I started experimenting w/ mechanicals about 8 years ago and now my all time favorite are Rage broadheads - unbelievable!!!!! I'll likely never switch to another.

[stoneaxe]

You missed the poorly prepared and inexpertly skinned part.... I've had squirrel and enjoyed it. But chasing squirrels with a bow to get enough meat for a sandwich seems a waste. Pigeon tastes like chicken.... . Pono would blow you away if he prepared a pigeon or squirrel for you now...in addition to everything else he's an amazing cook.

LOL...now we'll go off on a game recipe tangent.....

[stoneaxe]

The locals use dogs and a knife.

OK...lets go with the locals then. Do we get to smear pig blood on our bare chests and scream in the jungle? Kalua pig....mmmmm.

[PonoBill]

Speaking of recipes, I've got a beautiful chunk of tenderloin in the refrigerator that was supposed to be beef Wellington last night, but Diane didn't want to wait and had a taste for Sushi, so we went to Nuka instead. Leaving Monday, I don't know WTF I'm going to do with that thing. Probably slice it into Filets, grill a couple, and leave the rest for the guy who is going to caretake the place until it sells. Hope he likes good beef.

[Night Wing]

Nighty: the blacktail bows are beautiful....saaaa-weet!  As far as broadheads....I've tried tons and when I was hunting w/ fixed blades (over the course of my first 10-15 bowhunting I ALWAYS came back to either Thunderheads or Muzzy's (always 100gr).  However, I started experimenting w/ mechanicals about 8 years ago and now my all time favorite are Rage broadheads - unbelievable!!!!! I'll likely never switch to another.

I'm partial to traditional archery bows. Mainly a hunting recurve. But, I've never been able to shoot a longbow accurately on the first shot. That first shot from a longbow, it never goes where I'm looking and this is why I like recurves. I can always place on arrow where I want it to go on the first shot with a recurve. If by chance you want to learn about traditional archery bows (recurves or longbows), the place to get lots of information on the internet is the "Trad Gang" and I consider it the "best" place for someone wanting to learn about traditional bowhunting archery tackle. BTW, it is where I found my bowyer, Norm Johnson of Blacktail Bows who built both of my custom Blacktails.

http://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php

[stoneaxe]

Thanks for the link.....great resource.

[oceanAddict]

What a great site.....just about any knot you can think of animated. Search by activity, type, or name. Some tech info on rope properties too....very useful stuff.

http://www.animatedknots.com/

Bob, thank you for sharing. Was looking for "how to"s on fishing notes earlier today!